Al-Jazeera's Eye on Asia

Updated Oct. 29, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET

Even in liberal democracies with constitutional guarantees of press freedom, material that incites insurrection is screened out by responsible broadcasters. Al-Jazeera's images of terrorists beheading innocent hostages constitute broadcasting designed to stir up blood lust. Asian governments considering whether to let the Arab television network set up a regional hub should not allow themselves to be bullied into thinking that a denial would be an infringement of "press freedom."